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Pause, edit and delete rules

Change a rule, copy it, turn it off for a while or remove it, and fix a rule that matches nothing or never wins.

Where to find it:your-organization.conta.financeRules

Every change to a ruleA set of conditions that gives each matching movement a category, a subcategory or a rollup automatically. applies to your whole history at once, not only to new imports. The movements a rule stops classifying go to the next rule that matches them, or to Unclassified. You need Read and edit access to change rules.

Edit a rule

  1. Open Rules in the sidebar and find the rule.
  2. Open the Rule actions menu at the end of its row and select Edit rule. You can also expand the row and select Edit.
  3. Change the name, the label it assigns or the conditions. The preview updates while you edit.
  4. Select Save changes.

The title of the window says where the rule runs, for example "Evaluated 3rd of 12". When you save, Conta Finance runs the rule again over your existing history. A movement the rule no longer matches goes to the next rule that matches it. A movement it now matches takes its label, unless an earlier rule or a manual choice wins first.

You cannot change the kind of a rule. To turn a category rule into a subcategory rule, create the new rule, then delete the old one.

To change where a rule runs, move it instead. See The Rules page.

Duplicate a rule

Use Duplicate to write a variant of a rule, for example the same conditions on another account.

  1. Open the Rule actions menu and select Duplicate.
  2. The Duplicate rule window opens with the same conditions and label. The name gets a number, for example "Swap 2".
  3. Change what differs, then select Create rule.

The copy is a new rule. It runs last, after every other rule of its tab. You can also duplicate a System rule: the copy is one of your rules.

Pause a rule

Pause a rule to see what happens without it, or to stop it for a while without losing it.

  1. Turn off the switch in the Active column of the rule.
  2. Read the Pause rule window. It says how many movements the rule holds, for example: "The 240 movements it classifies as Payroll lose that category, falling back to the next rule that matches them or to Unclassified."
  3. Select Pause rule.

A paused rule classifies nothing. It also stops taking movements from the rules under it, as if it were deleted. It stays on the page with the Paused chip, and it counts in Needs attention.

  • For a subcategory rule, its movements lose that subcategory. Their category does not change.
  • For a rule that classifies nothing now, the window says that nothing in the ledger changes.

To resume the rule, turn the switch on again. Nothing asks you to confirm. The rule takes back its movements at once.

Delete a rule

  1. Open the Rule actions menu and select Delete rule.
  2. Read the Delete rule window. It says how many movements the rule classifies. They fall back to the next rule that matches them.
  3. Confirm.

A deleted rule cannot come back. If you may need it again, pause it instead.

A rule that matches nothing

The chip Never matches means that no movement in your whole history satisfies the conditions. The Matches column shows 0 and Last match shows "Never".

Check what the conditions name:

  • the account, and the side you chose: From, To or From or To;
  • the method IDThe code of the contract function a transaction called. Rules and rollups can match on it.;
  • the asset or the platform;
  • an AND group that asks for two things no movement has at once.

Edit the rule and read the preview. It shows how many movements the conditions match while you type. A rule for activity that has not come in yet also shows this chip, and that is not an error.

A rule that never wins

The chip Shadowed by and a rule means that the conditions match movements, but an earlier rule takes every one of them first. The rule does nothing. The chip names the rule that wins and its number.

Fix it in one of these ways:

  • Move this rule above the other one, so it runs first. See The Rules page.
  • Make the other rule more specific, so it leaves these movements alone.
  • Delete this rule, if the other one already does the job.

A rule that wins some movements and loses others is not shadowed. That overlap is normal, because the first match wins. Expand the row to read the number in Conflicts. See The Rules page.